In a discussion with a young woman, I questioned her condemnation of hierarchical structures. “The brain”, I said, “exploits the rest of the body by taking the lion’s share of blood supply and oxygen.” “Nonsense”, she said, “We are open systems.” The bell rang for resumption of sessions, and the noise level of people moving on from coffee break increased, so that she could hardly hear me saying that open systems can also be hierarchical.
Today I would put it even more strongly: it is closed systems (cycles) which are non-hierarchical, because they are intransitive: there is no point of dominance in a circle. (This is why King Arthur’s knights used a Round Table.) And of course a circle (cycle) is a closed figure.
On the other hand, cascades, flow-through systems, and Prigoginian structures are open systems in a thermodynamic sense, they are transitive, and they are hierarchical. A cascade of hormones, each releasing the next, goes from the pituitary gland to the sex glands, releasing several stages; and also to the thyroid gland, to the adrenal gland, and so on. Another cascade sends a message from a hormone through a receptor to an internal cell messenger to the nucleus, instructing the DNA to initiate protein production.
We are open system because we are flow-through systems, open to matter and energy flows through our bodies and out again (in changed, degraded forms) from the environment and back out again. We take in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide and water. We take in food and discard what is not needed.
My young friend, a spiritual descendent of the flower children, understood these words in a different meaning. “Open” was good as opposed to “closed” (as in open mind versus a closed mind), and “hierarchical” was bad, as practised in authoritarian structures of the state and in armies and schools. And the good things should go together and the bad things should go together.
This is an illustration of how intellectual differences can result from different interpretations of words and concepts. We could have argued all night if that bell had not rung, unless we clarified what each of us meant by the words we were using.